The Beturn 



monotony in its passage, the hill-encircled bay 

 with the town spreading outwards and upwards 

 its varied lines of picturesque houses, and its 

 wealth of sub-tropical greenery, seems verily 

 an enchanted haven of rest and refreshment. 



*' Who would not turn him from the barren sea, 

 And rest his weary eyes on the green land, and thee ? " 



We who know it well are aware that the 

 coup cfa-il from the sea, delightful as it is, 

 reveals little of the more intimate beauties 

 which await us. The houses risins: one above 

 another are foreshortened as we see them, and 

 give no hint of the garden luxuriance in which 

 many of them are embowered. We can trace 

 the roads which fan-like ascend the hills from 

 the town, but wc cannot see the brilliant 

 creepers and shrubs which here and there over- 

 hang the walls that line them — the Poinsettia, 

 the Bignonia, the Plumbago, the Datura, which 

 at this season must be in full flower. Yet even 

 from the sea we can discern that the great mass 

 of Bougainvillea which clothes with a raiment 

 of purple the cliff below an ancient fort that 

 dominates (or once dominated) the town is 

 vigorous as ever, though not yet come to its 



7 



